Nothing cats do surprise us. After all, they are not of this earth. They are otherworldly. They don’t even exist on the same plane of the universe as us.
So watching a cat leap from the fifth-floor window of a burning apartment and walk away is as if nothing happened may be awe-inspiring, but it doesn’t shock us.
Chicago Fire Department personnel were taking a video of the exterior of the building as firefighters were extinguishing the blaze when a black cat appeared through billowing smoke at a broken window. The fire-fleeing feline briefly tested the side of the building with its front paws, and then jumped.
Onlookers gasped as the cat fell. But it missed a wall as it hurtled downward and instead landed on all four paws atop grass, where it bounced once and immediately ran away.
Note the cat’s form when falling. It’s almost like she’s practiced jumping from a building. And talk about sticking the landing! A gymnast would envy that.
Still not convinced that cats are supernatural?
“It went under my car and hid until she felt better after a couple of minutes and came out and tried to scale the wall to get back in,” said fire department spokesman Larry Langford.
I’d like to see a dog try that trick.
I wrote this a few years back about cats: “Forget everything you know about race, ethnicity, religion, ideology, or political affiliation. The great schism in humanity is between those who love cats and those who don’t and it’s been that way going on 5,000 years.
Genetically speaking, dogs are failed wolves. It is probable that the first wolves domesticated by man were Omega wolves — the lowest ranking wolf in the pack — who hung around human campfires hoping to get a few scraps of food. The Omegas were kicked around by their own pack and this complex carried forward through the ages so that dogs today will do anything to please its master.
Not so, cats. From the cat’s point of view, it is we whi should do anything to please them. Do they turn their noses up at the food we put in front of them? Try a different dinner.
Busy and don’t want to be bothered petting them? Try ignoring a cat determined to have you pay attention to him. If you do, he is likely to deliberately knock over that glass of soda on your desk right on to your keyboard. Those who think it an accident are delusional.
Perhaps the cat in the video forgot she left her wings in heaven. Or maybe the angel who borrowed them never gave them back. I only know that our cats will continue to enthrall and amaze us every day they’re with us.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member